16.08.16
Hospitals urged to publish dementia stats in face of ‘unacceptable postcode lottery’
Hospitals are being called on to publish an annual statement on dementia care as the Department of Health’s new ‘dementia atlas’ uncovered an England-wide postcode lottery in care for the disease.
George McNamara, head of policy and public affairs at Alzheimer’s Society, said that while making more user-friendly information on dementia available online is a “step in the right direction”, it is still currently easier to find out about a hospital’s finances than the quality of its dementia care.
“To make hospitals more transparent and accountable, we are calling for them to publish an annual statement on dementia care,” he said.
“Additionally, in some parts of the country, people with dementia were much less likely to have had their care reviewed in the last 12 months than in others – something which is extremely important given that dementia is a progressive condition and a person’s needs become more severe over time. The causes of variation need to be investigated to ensure care is never a gamble.”
The government’s online tool exposed varies levels of care, with some areas reporting “much higher” numbers of emergency hospital admissions than others, according to the Society.
“We must urgently explore why people with dementia’s needs are escalating to this point and what can be done in the community to prevent crisis admissions among this vulnerable group,” McNamara said, adding: “We need to build on this by adding more information regarding people with dementia's experiences of health and care to maximise the impact of the atlas, enabling decision makers to address regional variation and promote good practice.”
Health secretary Jeremy Hunt argued that the interactive online tool, published today, would “shine a spotlight” on worst-performing areas and thus drive improvements, but others have reacted harshly to the findings.
Health spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats, Norman Lamb, was quoted in the Guardian as saying the wide care variation was “yet more evidence of the NHS and the care system on its knees”.
“We are the sixth largest economy in the world and yet we are letting down very vulnerable people in a completely unacceptable way,” Lamb added. “How can we tolerate allowing people who have worked hard all their lives to be let down in this way in their hour of need? We need a new long-term settlement for the NHS and care so that we can guarantee people with dementia and others the care they need, when they need it.”
Caroline Abrahams of Age UK added that the atlas showed some services are “frankly not up to scratch, with only a few people receiving at least an annual review of their care following diagnosis”.
“This is an unacceptable postcode lottery of care. We must continue efforts to improve both access to, and quality of, care for the growing number of us living with dementia,” she added.
Today’s interactive tools comes as the Department of Health has decided to name actress Carey Mulligan the first UK Global Dementia Friends Ambassador, which the government hopes will help bring international attention to the benefits of making communities dementia-friendly and renew focus on the Alzheimer’s Society’s Dementia Friends programme.
Health Education England has also chosen today to release a new film, ‘Finding Patience – The Later Years’, that highlights the importance of person-centred care in enabling people in care homes to live well with dementia.
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